Penns Creek loadout

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Silent Ocelot

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After conducting some recent lawn casting I have come up with the assortment of rods I want to take with me to Penns at the end of April. Here they are. I have also listed my intended purpose for each rod and why I chose said rod.

General purpose (streamers, indicator rigs, dries);

SAGE X 5wt 9ft.

Haven't broken this rod out in awhile (maybe last Spring). It will do most of the general purpose things I need it to do. The rod doesn't feel particularly powerful so I am hesitant to bring it if I really want to get my flies out far. I'm a distance freak. The particular model I have is the "electric teal finish" that will light right up on bluebird days. I still have to take this out and lawn cast it to see what line I want to bring but I think the Orvis Hydros Nymph in a 6wt will be the ticket.

Tight-line nymphing;

SAGE ESN HD 3wt 10ft. Even though I've only fished this rod once (Little Lehigh) it was enough for me to realize how sensitive of a rod it is and how I would like to use it for future tight-lining adventures. I love the look of the stick too. I will be pairing it with a Redington Tilt reel in the two tone black and "garnet finish" which I think will make for a nice combo.

Tributaries and close range dries;

The day after last Christmas I had off I treated myself to the new Orvis Superfine glass 2wt 6'6" at the TCO in Reading. I have been lusting after this rod ever since I lawn casted one at the Orvis in D-town at the end of summer in the prior year. I have been dialing it in with lines and finally found a line I really liked on it, SA Infinity in a 3wt. I had so much fun casting that rod with that line that I even casted it after I was done smoking my cigar. I'm really glad to have finally gotten that rod dialed in.

So there you have it. Let me know what you think of my quiver. I will also be taking my trusty SAGE Bolt 4wt if one of my non fishing car friends wants to go with me. If I need to do some heavier streamer work I can use that, though I think the X should be good for most streamer based applications. I like stout rods when streamer fishing.
 
Cannot wait for April on Penns. I roll with a 9' 4 wt and a 10'9" 3 wt most of the time out there FWIW. If it's windy or the end of May then I'd bring a 5 or 6 wt instead of the 4. And in late April I probably wouldn't bother with the nymph rod. HENDOS
 
Geezus. You’re over complicating things. An 8.5‘ or 9’ 5 weight will get the job. done.
 
I'm pretty sure that that X is plenty powerful. It's designed to feel softer but it should be nearly as powerful as the one was. Where on Penns are you needing to throw 80' of line + 10' of leader?!?

As someone mentioned, 9' rod in 4 or 5 weight will get it done just fine.
 
Silent Ocelot said:
After conducting some recent lawn casting I have come up with the assortment of rods I want to take with me to Penns at the end of April. Here they are. I have also listed my intended purpose for each rod and why I chose said rod.

General purpose (streamers, indicator rigs, dries);

SAGE X 5wt 9ft.

Haven't broken this rod out in awhile (maybe last Spring). It will do most of the general purpose things I need it to do. The rod doesn't feel particularly powerful so I am hesitant to bring it if I really want to get my flies out far. I'm a distance freak. The particular model I have is the "electric teal finish" that will light right up on bluebird days. I still have to take this out and lawn cast it to see what line I want to bring but I think the Orvis Hydros Nymph in a 6wt will be the ticket.

Tight-line nymphing;

SAGE ESN HD 3wt 10ft. Even though I've only fished this rod once (Little Lehigh) it was enough for me to realize how sensitive of a rod it is and how I would like to use it for future tight-lining adventures. I love the look of the stick too. I will be pairing it with a Redington Tilt reel in the two tone black and "garnet finish" which I think will make for a nice combo.

Tributaries and close range dries;

The day after last Christmas I had off I treated myself to the new Orvis Superfine glass 2wt 6'6" at the TCO in Reading. I have been lusting after this rod ever since I lawn casted one at the Orvis in D-town at the end of summer in the prior year. I have been dialing it in with lines and finally found a line I really liked on it, SA Infinity in a 3wt. I had so much fun casting that rod with that line that I even casted it after I was done smoking my cigar. I'm really glad to have finally gotten that rod dialed in.

So there you have it. Let me know what you think of my quiver. I will also be taking my trusty SAGE Bolt 4wt if one of my non fishing car friends wants to go with me. If I need to do some heavier streamer work I can use that, though I think the X should be good for most streamer based applications. I like stout rods when streamer fishing.
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Dear Silent Ocelot,

A 9 ft 4, 5, or 6 weight will handle Penns.

For creekin' a 7 1/2 or 8 ft 3 or 4 weight will do that job easily. A 9 foot 6 weight in skilled hands will do it too.

I kind of miss the days when I had a 7 1/2 ft 5 weight glass rod and used it for everything from tricos to bass bugs.

It's never the saw, it's the sawyer that matters.

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
 
A bud has a 9ft 5wt X. Last year he bought a line for the rod but does not remember the name. Duh. He asked to try it out and see what I thought. The rod cast the line fine. There was not a lot of casting area but casts to 65ft were easy and there was more in the tank. Many like Rio Gold on that rod. The 8 1/2ft 4wt and 5wt X rods are super.
 
Nocktavius said:
I fish damn near everything from Penns to the Delaware with the same 10’ 3 wt.
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I’ve fished Penns with damn near anything from a 7’6 3wt (grabbed the wrong, but similar looking rod tube when packing the car), to a 9’ 6wt. 😜

My usual rod of choice is a 10’ 5wt if I’m planning on fishing all day away from the vehicle with mixed tactics. If just going for the evening I use an 8’6 5wt that I like for casting dries, unless it’s Green Drakes, which is when I use the 6wt.
 
discomidge said:
Cannot wait for April on Penns. I roll with a 9' 4 wt and a 10'9" 3 wt most of the time out there FWIW. If it's windy or the end of May then I'd bring a 5 or 6 wt instead of the 4. And in late April I probably wouldn't bother with the nymph rod. HENDOS
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A quick 9ft. 4wt would be an excellent tool for Penns with dries, perhaps ideal. I have tried contacted a seller about the possibility of relieving him of his G. Loomis Asquith 4wt 9ft but he has not gotten back to me. I owned that model of rod before (Dec 5th 2022 to somewhere in Spring 2023) and it would be a fantastic choice for dry delivery at Penns. I should have kept it and am ashamed I traded it for an ugly Helios 3. Thanks for the insight.
 
krayfish2 said:
I'm pretty sure that that X is plenty powerful. It's designed to feel softer but it should be nearly as powerful as the one was. Where on Penns are you needing to throw 80' of line + 10' of leader?!?

As someone mentioned, 9' rod in 4 or 5 weight will get it done just fine.
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I was never too fond of the X, I prefer Konnetic era rods or R8 over the X. I fished my 5wt 9ft for awhile and I am not very impressed with it. Not saying it's a bad rod but I could never get the line or my timing really dialed in with mine so I have relegated it to be a safe queen, something I am ok with because the value of the electric teal rods are now over a g, or they were for some time. I'm taking the X to color-coordinate with the orange colored Bolt if my friend decides to go. If he bails I'll be taking my Orvis H3F 9ft. 6wt as I think that is just an overall better rod, and a better rod for the styles I am expecting to fish at my time at Penns. I initially bought the X for the clout in the event someone would recognize a color released on that rod for only a year. Alas, I did not receive enough compliments on the rod to wish to continue fishing it. I will say I was glad to get mine at less than retail even when the X was still in production.

I also have a matching 8wt 9ft SAGE X that I kind of like and will use for heavy nymph rigs in Erie, but ever since I got my preferred SAGE Salt HD 7wt 9ft. back I have no desire to take that rod with me outside of my Erie adventures.

Btw, you cop that Method 9ft. 6wt yet? She's a real beaut.
 
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TimMurphy said:
Dear Silent Ocelot,

A 9 ft 4, 5, or 6 weight will handle Penns.

For creekin' a 7 1/2 or 8 ft 3 or 4 weight will do that job easily. A 9 foot 6 weight in skilled hands will do it too.

I kind of miss the days when I had a 7 1/2 ft 5 weight glass rod and used it for everything from tricos to bass bugs.

It's never the saw, it's the sawyer that matters.

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
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Although I agree with your last statement I do think that the "right tool for the job" does apply to the sport and that there are noticeable variations with performance when using an objectively better fly rod for a given circumstance. Like driver mod being best the mod in the sport of racing, the most important factor is always the most important aspect with any hobby or sport, but I believe a higher performance level can be achieved by acquiring gear that boosts one's level of performance.
 
Very much looking forward to front ending this group debating the merits of one weight and taper over the other in the parking lot.
 
Nocktavius said:
Very much looking forward to front ending this group debating the merits of one weight and taper over the other in the parking lot.
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Don't get them started on color coordinating their rod choices with each other...
 
You are gonna want a 7 or 8 wt if chucking large streamers in high water too!!

I do not like a 4wt there even when only throwing dries. I like the ability to reach a few far risers and most times my 4wt is not cutting it. If throwing bigger dries, i.e. Drakes, the 5wt helps too.
 
Nocktavius said:
Very much looking forward to front ending this group debating the merits of one weight and taper over the other in the parking lot.
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Can we do grass? My lines are, err... expensive and I don't want to ding em' my fresh lines before I start chasing the white trucks.
 
Silent Ocelot said:
Can we do grass? My lines are, err... expensive and I don't want to ding em' my fresh lines before I start chasing the white trucks.
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I tend to keep the doing of grass away from the parking areas up there given the DCNR presence.
 
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